Prevalence of malaria parasites among blood donors in two hospitals in Enugu metropolis, Nigeria

TL;DR

This study found a high prevalence of malaria parasites among blood donors in Enugu, Nigeria, highlighting the need for routine screening.

Contribution

The study provides new prevalence data for malaria among blood donors in Enugu, Nigeria.

Findings

148 out of 377 blood donors (39.3%) tested positive for malaria parasites.

Malaria prevalence was highest in the 26–35 age group (44.1%) and among female donors (47.1%).

The overall difference in malaria prevalence across age and gender groups was not statistically significant.

Abstract

Screening of blood donors for malaria parasites as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) is currently not included in the protocols and procedures for pre-screening blood donors of many private and public health facilities in Nigeria.

A cross-sectional study was conducted of voluntary, family, and remunerated blood donors in two hospitals in the Enugu metropolis. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect demographics and blood donation history data. Five milliliters of blood were collected from each blood donor, of which 2 mL were used to screen for malaria parasites.

Three hundred and seventy-seven blood donors participated in the study with 148 (39.3 %) being malaria-positive. Most of the blood donors were in the age groups 16–25 and 26–35 years old with prevalences of 40.0 % and 44.1 %, respectively. The prevalence of malaria in both age groups was high compared to the 36–45 years age group (26.7 %). Still, the overall difference in malaria prevalence across the four age groups was not statistically significant (χ2 = 5.437; p-value = 0.142). The majority (n = 290; 76.9 %) of the donors were male, while 87 (23.1 %) were female. Although female blood donors had a higher prevalence of malaria (47.1 %) compared to male donors (36.9 %), the difference was not statistically significant (p-value = 0.057).

The high prevalence of malaria in the studied area, suggests the need for careful screening of blood samples of blood donors for malaria parasites.